Special thanks to Patrick Schuster for his contributions to today's article.
Since the metagame has settled after the bannings of Deathrite Shaman and Gitaxian Probe, graveyard…» Read More

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702.39a Storm is a triggered ability that functions while the spell is on the stack. “Storm” means “When you play this spell, put a copy of it onto the stack for each other spell that was cast before it this turn. If the spell has any targets, you may choose new targets for any number of the copies.”

702.39b If a spell has multiple instances of storm, each triggers separately.

The EPIC Storm (TES) is a deck with win conditions that use the storm mechanic. Over time these win conditions have changed, in the past the primary win condition has always been Tendrils of Agony - but not anymore! In current lists of TES, Empty the Warrens has become much more of a focal point. Its one of the differentiating factors between TES and its cousin Ad Nauseam Tendrils. TES can be defined by its Goblin tokens from Empty the Warrens as well as its other red cards - Rite of Flame and Burning Wish!

A few key strengths to TES that separate it from the other storm combo decks in Legacy are its blazing fast speed (while staying consistent and often backed by protection) which allows the deck to win before the opponent can cast their hate spells, high tutor density, the utilization and flexibility of Burning Wish, the strength of its ability to win off of the card Ad Nauseam, and its ability to reliably play multiple colors in a consistent manner.

Since then The EPIC Storm’s incarnation it's gone from a niche deck to a powerhouse played all around the world, with some impressive finishes!

You may choose a sorcery card you own from outside the game, reveal that card, and put it into your hand. Exile Burning Wish.

As mentioned previously, one of the defining features of The EPIC Storm. An incredibly powerful and resourceful element that is quite diverse in what it can do. Burning Wish allows TES to not play answers for problematic cards by either providing a solution or an alternative route to victory. One of the greatest things Burning Wish does for this deck is it allows us to not have to play Tendrils of Agony in our main deck as it tends to be a dead card in most games. This can be said for a couple of the cards in our sideboard, that’s the true beauty of Burning Wish – its whatever we need it to be.

Our wish board is comprised of storm engines, win conditions, protection and a few solution based cards. We try not to play an entire sideboard full of Burning Wish targets as doesn’t create the greatest value out of our available slots. Generally, I try to have no more than six or seven Burning Wish targets. Lastly, having included Burning Wish into our deck, our threat density is very high in comparison to other storm decks meaning that we spend less time finding our threats with cantrips which leads to a faster kill.

Reveal a card from your hand. Search your library for a card with the same name as that card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
Hellbent — If you have no cards in hand, instead search your library for a card, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.

We’ve talked about how it's important to hold priority when casting this card and using Lion’s Eye Diamond in response, but I can’t stress it enough!

It's also crucial to remember that you can cast it for a secondary copy of something in your hand. I’ve watched other storm pilots completely blank on this in the middle of a game with tunnel vision. When I’m revealing a card to Infernal Tutor it's usually some sort of mana or protection spells.

Sometimes, it's just to shuffle my deck after a Brainstorm or a Ponder.

Draw three cards, then put two cards from your hand on top of your library in any order.

An incredibly tough to play spell that can make or break a game all on its own. Brainstorm can often fix hands needing two specific types of cards and finding them at once or simply putting a few situationally bad cards back. An important feature of this card is that in match-ups with discard is very relevant to preserve these and use them to protect the best cards in your hand.

When playing TES sequencing your cantrips is extremely important, but there are also games where you’re one card off from winning on turn one. I’m all about the first turn of the game main phase Brainstorm – I’ve received scoffs from some players but it's perfectly acceptable in my eyes. The situation needs to call for it, I wouldn’t just snap off a Brainstorm for the sake of it. I tend to Ponder before I Brainstorm a majority of the time.

Collaborating with a shuffle effect is generally the way to go with Brainstorm so that you’re not drawing dead spells. There are times when sitting on Brainstorm for multiple turns while you continue to draw spells just to put back worse ones is the correct thing to do.

Look at the top three cards of your library, then put them back in any order. You may shuffle your library.

Draw a card.

Our cantrip with the best odds of finding the card(s) we’re looking for! Ponder digs the deepest out of the cards we opt to play, unlike Brainstorm or Preordain – Ponder can see up to four unique cards. Because of this, in hands where we have both Brainstorm, Ponder, and Preordain – it's usually best to cast Ponder first.

Like Brainstorm, the best utilization of Ponder is often with a Polluted Delta or another fetchland. Ponder like a fetchland can be used as a shuffle effect for Brainstorm as well, it's just not as ideal.

I’d like to note that I’m very aggressive with my shuffling off of ponder, players often think that I must’ve been looking at bad cards often because my decision doesn’t take too long. But if those cards aren’t what the hand needs, why contemplate?

1Empty the Warrenshttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005OVIC1Y/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B005OVIC1Y&linkCode=as2&tag=tes019-20&linkId=AJXI36BB3UF7ZY4Lhttps://www.theepicstorm.com/wp-content/themes/TES-2017/images/cards/EmptytheWarrens.jpgEmpty the Warrens5Sorcery

Create two 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens.
Storm(When you cast this spell, copy it for each spell cast before it this turn.)

I’ve already said so much about this card, but let’s reiterate. TES opts to play Empty the Warrens over Tendrils of Agony because Empty the Warrens is rarely a dead draw – the issue with Tendrils is it does absolutely nothing until it's lethal. Meanwhile casting Empty the Warrens with six or seven storm will easily win a game. Having a win condition in the deck that needs less storm and costs less than five (Ad Nauseam) dramatically increases the speed of TES often giving it games where we appear belcher-esque.

Recently, Empty the Warrens has lost some of its power with the loss of Gitaxian Probe from the format, causing the deck to cut Cabal Therapy. This means the deck lost one of its most powerful synergies between Cabal Therapy and using Goblins to discard our opponent's entire hand! The other side effect from these changes would be less "free" storm before generating our Goblins using Empty the Warrens.

While these changes may seem brutal, they're not. It's important to remember that while The EPIC Storm lost some tools, the format lost its best token blocker!

Reveal the top card of your library and put that card into your hand. You lose life equal to its converted mana cost. You may repeat this process any number of times.

The EPIC Storm is the best Ad Nauseam deck in legacy. Between Chrome Mox to act as additional copies of Lotus Petal as well as a lower average converted mana cost, Ad Nauseam has an increased power level here. Our primary storm engine and game plan, we’ve catered our deck to maximize its potential.

Something to keep in mind that Ad Nauseam is an instant, you can cast the spell in response to a Brainstorm or on an end step.

There’s also the “Chrome Mox trick” – which is to cast Chrome Mox, in response cast Ad Nauseam, and in response to Ad Nauseam activate Lion’s Eye Diamond! You do this in order to be able to imprint after Ad Nauseam has resolved and is only viable if you didn’t have a card you could imprint prior to casting Ad Nauseam.

Target player reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card. You lose 2 life.

Time have changed. The most common question I've heard when it comes to Thoughtseize is, "What about the life-loss, is it an issue?." The quick answer is no.

Storm decks for the last seven years have ran four copies of Gitaxian Probe and have done just fine. The trade-off of two life and being able to hit anything instead of "non-creature, non-land" is why you see four copies of Thoughtseize in every list, while lists fluctuate between three and four copies of Duress. Being able to have a guaranteed hit against Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or Ethersworn Canonist without question is extremely valuable compared to a blind Cabal Therapy against a deck like Death & Taxes or guessing the proper counterspell against blue decks.

While The EPIC Storm will miss the synergies between Cabal Therapy, Gitaxian Probe, and Goblin tokens, I'm a firm believer that Thoughtseize will carry us into the future.

Target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a noncreature, nonland card from it. That player discards that card.

I go back and forth on the numbers of Duress depending on the metagame. But one thing is certain, it's the second best discard spell in the format now. After Duress the drop-off is fairly alarming, between Cabal Therapy without Gitaxian Probe or Inquisition of Kozilek.

While my current list only has seven discard effects, if I were to go up to eight it would be another copy of Duress.

4Rite of Flamehttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00428PGTG/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00428PGTG&linkCode=as2&tag=tes019-20&linkId=LHYEAMFU5A23RQHVhttps://www.theepicstorm.com/wp-content/themes/TES-2017/images/cards/RiteofFlame.jpgRite of Flame1Sorcery

Add , then add for each card named Rite of Flame in each graveyard.

A defining characteristic of The EPIC Storm, this card is one of the reasons this deck is blazing fast. The fact that it costs one mana is important for two reasons – the first being that it's easier to cast in comparison to other “Ritual” effects available that cost two and the second reason would be its converted mana costs’ impact on Ad Nauseam.

Something that is often overlooked when viewing Rite of Flame and is the ability to make two red mana, which is important because it generates just enough to meet the red mana requirement for both Burning Wish and Empty the Warrens in a single turn. Two Rite of Flame is also the perfect amount of mana to cast Empty the Warrens!

Things become a little more interesting when you have more than two Rite of Flames. Revealing Rite of Flame off of Infernal Tutor is one of my favorite things to do, especially with a line to cast Past in Flames. Often times Rite of Flame acts as a Dark Ritual and in certain situations its even better!

One of the most powerful cards in this deck and Legacy as a whole. If I have multiple “Ritual” effects in my hand, including a Rite of Flame, I will cast Dark Ritual second as it is an instant. This is incredibly helpful when it comes to playing around Daze, Spell Pierce and sometimes Flusterstorm.

Discard your hand, Sacrifice Lion's Eye Diamond: Add three mana of any one color. Activate this ability only any time you could cast an instant.

The card is responsible for most turn one wins and is a total game changer. When using Lion’s Eye Diamond it's crucial to know that you must maintain priority and activate it in response to your other spell before passing priority/checking to see if there are any responses. When using Lion’s Eye Diamond paired with Infernal Tutor, it's important to note that you can cast Infernal Tutor with card in hand and then use Lion’s Eye Diamond to become hellbent by activating the artifact.

Try to cast Lion's Eye Diamond at opportune times, I play this card very differently depending on the match-up. Sometimes I let it sit on the table and threaten the opponent – while in other situations I hide it in my hand or on top of my deck. I typically play it right before my Infernal Tutor or Burning Wish, to maintain priority, this way it cannot be destroyed by effects like Abrupt Decay or Kolaghan's Command.

Imprint — When Chrome Mox enters the battlefield, you may exile a nonartifact, nonland card from your hand.

Add one mana of any of the exiled card's colors.

A card that divides TES from ANT. We opt to take the faster route as a trade off to a late game consistency. Chrome Mox provides additional early mana to allow for quick Empty the Warrens or Ad Nauseams.

Chrome Mox is a huge part of why we have such an incredibly high success rate post-Ad Nauseam as it acts as an initial mana source to continue "combo-ing" out for the turn.

Lists have recently bounced back and forth on the number of Chrome Mox in the main deck. At the moment, I prefer four to maintain our blazing-fast speed.

Metalcraft — Add one mana of any color. Activate this ability only if you control three or more artifacts.

After the banning of Gitaxian Probe, The EPIC Storm had felt like it lost a step so-to-speak. It felt just slightly slower, but that was the nature of losing a free card in the deck. Since then we've tried a bunch of things after just accepting we would be a slower deck, where Empty the Warrens may not be as powerful. Mox Opal has changed that! Mox Opal provides blazing fast speed, while mana fixing for the deck — something we haven't exactly had before.

One of my favorite things about the new Mox, is to cast Brainstorm or Ponder AND THEN shuffle your deck with Bloodstained Mire or Polluted Delta on turn one (often followed by a discard spell).

That said, Mox Opal certainly comes with some costs associated with it. The EPIC Storm doesn't actually play too many artifacts in the deck, generally, anywhere between fourteen and nineteen (main deck Hope of Ghirapur) depending on the list. Meaning it won't always be active on the first turn, but something people forget is that it doesn't need to be. Having your Mox Opal turned on and ready to tap for any color of mana on turn two or three a cantrip is just fine or in the worst case, post-Ad Nauseam. Which is just fine, providing another initial mana source is a big deal when the deck often requires red and black mana in order to win the game.

A cool trick you can do with Mox Opal with Chrome Mox is to play Mox Opal first, cast your Chrome Mox, with the imprint ability on the stack cast Brainstorm (or even Ad Nauseam!) and then imprint onto Chrome Mox after gaining new information/cards. While on the topic of Chrome Mox, even playing it for no-imprint cost now adds extra value with Mox Opal, which is something that should be mentioned for newer storm pilots.

The best "fetchland" in our primarily blue and black storm deck, the reason it's the best is that it gets either of our two basic lands. Which is something the other fetchlands cannot do, it's also the only fetchland in the deck that can get every land.

There's more to Polluted Delta and the other fetchlands as well, they provide shuffle effects for cards like Brainstorm or Ponder which help with the quality of our draws. Fetchlands protect our mana from effects like Wasteland or Rishadan Port, which is key considering TES is a deck with fewer lands than it’s other storm counterpart.

You'll notice there's three copies of Bloodstained Mire and only one Scalding Tarn as the deck's secondary "fetchlands." This is because the reliance on black mana is more important than blue. While this split may seem strange with ten one mana cantrips and only seven discard spells, keep in mind that cantrips are frequently sided out. In a format like Legacy, there's decks where you need to be able to cast discard on turn one and not worry about a Wasteland staring you down (I'm looking at you Death & Taxes and/or RUG Delver).

There's more to Bloodstained Mire and the other fetchlands as well, they provide shuffle effects for cards like Brainstorm or Ponder which help with the quality of our draws. Fetchlands protect our mana from effects like Wasteland or Rishadan Port, which is key considering TES is a deck with fewer lands than it’s other storm counterpart.

A searchable land that provides two of the deck's primary colors without any drawbacks.

I tend to waiver on if I would ever play a second copy of Badlands in order to support Pulverize in the sideboard as a fourteenth land, it hasn't happened yet, but it's something I consider. Fortunately, we're in a metagame where the most popular Chalice of the Void deck provides us with Mountains - but that could change.

I often pair Badlands with the basic Island in order to be able to tap for any of the three colors. Originally Badlands was added to the deck over a second copy of Volcanic Island, and I have to say there's no looking back. What's nice is that you can tap Underground Sea to cast a cantrip, then search for Badlands, cast a discard spell off of it, and then still have red mana on the following turn.

Return target nonland permanent and all other permanents with the same name as that permanent to their owners' hands.

Echoing Truth has found it's way back into the sideboards and our hearts as the card to answer things like multiple Chalice of the Void, Chancellor of the Annex, Leyline of Sanctity, or even Marit Lage. It's versatility is why it's seeing play over a card like Hurkyl's Recall, being able to come in for a variety of different match-ups is highly desirable when playing a silver-bullet "wish board."

With decks like Dragon Stompy becoming popular, Echoing Truth being easier to cast is a big difference maker compared to having to sideboard in something like Abrupt Decay. Having the ability to cast your solutions to permanents off of basics makes life much easier. Which is why you'll see three copies of Echoing Truth, especially with Counterbalance being not as popular as it once was.

Sacrifice Hope of Ghirapur: Until your next turn, target player who was dealt combat damage by Hope of Ghirapur this turn can't cast noncreature spells.

1/1

Xantid Swarm's little brother so to speak, while Hope of Ghirapur does it's best to be as good as Xantid Swarm, it's not quite as good.

That said, it sure is easier on the mana-base by not requiring green, this is why it sees play. The effect is certainly comparable, the main differences are that Hope of Ghirapur is a one time use – that targets. This is relevant because of Leyline of Sanctity, where Xantid Swarm does not target. Hope of Ghirapur also requires it to deal damage, meaning it can be blocked by Delver of Secrets, Griselbrand, Baleful Strix and other flying creatures. Speaking of creatures, it's effect doesn't stop the opponent from casting creatures. This means Vendilion Clique can still disrupt you if the opponent chooses not to block.

"Well, why does it see play if it's this much worse?" I can't emphasize enough how much easier casting Hope of Ghirapur is, it's best off from a basic land or even a Badlands as these things help advance your game-plan. Bayou is simply a wasteland target that happens to be a worse swamp. The real benefit to Hope of Ghirapur over Xantid Swarm is it's synergy with Empty the Warrens, Hope of Ghirapur actually stops the opponent from casting their sweeper effects (such as Engineered Explosives, Toxic Deluge, or even Terminus) on the following turn — this is an enormous upside! There's also the added benefit of dealing damage to the opponent.

3Empty the Warrenshttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005OVIC1Y/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B005OVIC1Y&linkCode=as2&tag=tes019-20&linkId=AJXI36BB3UF7ZY4Lhttps://www.theepicstorm.com/wp-content/themes/TES-2017/images/cards/EmptytheWarrens.jpgEmpty the Warrens4Sorcery

Create two 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens.
Storm(When you cast this spell, copy it for each spell cast before it this turn.)

By playing a copy of Empty the Warrens in our sideboard we effectively play five copies in our seventy-five – it's best to play the most copies we can while not decreasing our Ad Nauseam percentages. Empty the Warrens is also the decks fastest combo option (as it requires the least amount of mana) against decks trying to lock you out of the game, which matters more than you think.

Depending on the metagame you'll notice the numbers of Empty the Warrens fluctuate, in metagames with lots of Delver of Secrets decks more copies (generally the full set) of Empty the Warrens is more desirable as it's an easier card to cast when your opponent is trying to attack your resources. Casting Empty the Warrens from your hand is a lot less resource intensive as you'll only need four mana, playing a full-compliment of Empty the Warrens allows for drawing them to be much easier.

Meanwhile in these match-ups, Ad Nauseam at it's absolute cheapest is a seven mana line that loses to Daze, Spell Pierce, and even itself. What I mean by this is Delver decks pressure your life-total very quickly, Empty the Warrens is a great way to turn the tide. That said, there are metagames where I think one main deck and one sideboard are correct.

1Past in Flameshttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005ON1IW2/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B005ON1IW2&linkCode=as2&tag=tes019-20&linkId=JWXEQASWCWD5H6R6https://www.theepicstorm.com/wp-content/themes/TES-2017/images/cards/PastinFlames.jpgPast in Flames4Sorcery

Each instant and sorcery card in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost.

Flashback(You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)

Our tertiary option in The EPIC Storm, while powerful - our deck doesn’t utilize it as well as ANT does. However, we do have the tools for it to be effective if we build towards it. Often the card requires some foresight if you plan to use it.

The reason it really sees play in the sideboard is how effective it is against blue-based decks. Past in Flames is often a "counter me twice or lose" which opens up the door for other spells to resolve. I will say that Past in Flames has become weaker with the loss of Gitaxian Probe, the days of having non-deterministic kills with zero mana floating are gone.

You may sacrifice two Mountains rather than pay this spell's mana cost.

Destroy all artifacts.

One of my favorite answers to cards like Chalice of the Void, Sphere of Resistance, and Thorn of Amethyst that can be retrieved by Burning Wish.

The real struggle with this card is finding space for another Mountain effect in the main deck as it currently doesn't play enough. In lists with fourteen lands, it's much easier to support Pulverize off of the back of a second copy of Badlands over a second Underground Sea.

Currently, we're very fortunate that the metagame's artifact prison decks are also all Blood Moon decks. This means that they provide us with the necessary tools in order to cast our spells!

If an opponent controls a Plains and you control a Swamp, you may cast this spell without paying its mana cost.

All creatures get -2/-2 until end of turn.

Our best option against Death & Taxes!

Its searchable with Burning Wish and free to cast! Recently, it's been added back to the sideboard due to the loss of Gitaxian Probe. I noticed with the lack of free information that I was losing to these white prison creature decks more and more. Free information allowed you'd you to "go-for-it" early or know how to sequence your cantrips.

With Massacre in the sideboard you're able to keep less explosive hands and not be locked out of the game on the second turn. With a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben in play it may most a little more, but it does kill Thalia even with a Mother of Runes in play. Additionally, you can also cast this card occasionally against Elves or Goblins as they’ve been known to splash a Savannah or Plateau respectively.

1Tendrils of Agonyhttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0062DV378/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0062DV378&linkCode=as2&tag=tes019-20&linkId=YEISOXCBLP3IEDBLhttps://www.theepicstorm.com/wp-content/themes/TES-2017/images/cards/TendrilsofAgony.jpgTendrils of Agony4Sorcery

Target player loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.
Storm(When you cast this spell, copy it for each spell cast before it this turn. You may choose new targets for the copies.)

Have you ever drawn Tendrils of Agony in your opening hand? It's miserable - you can compare it to drawing multiple copies of Chrome Mox. For this reason Tendrils of Agony has been moved to the sideboard as its usefulness in the main deck was decreasing. What caused this change is that I found that most of the time that I was using Tendrils of Agony, that I had more than enough available mana to Burning Wish before casting it. This isn't anything new (the change happened in 2012), so those of you who are experienced with The EPIC Storm shouldn't see this as a shock.

That said, there are times when sideboarding into Tendrils of Agony is correct, typically these are match-ups with an overload of mass removal for our goblin tokens. The other time siding in Tendrils of Agony is what you want to be doing is against a deck like Burn where Ad Nauseam isn't effective.

Search your library for a card and put that card into your hand. Then shuffle your library.

Spell mastery — If there are two or more instant and/or sorcery cards in your graveyard, add .

Essentially an Infernal Tutor in the sideboard that is there to be able to find the Ad Nauseam in the main deck. This is a nine mana line that comes up more often than people notice, but it’s important to remember the Spell Mastery on this. I also commonly use Dark Petition to get the main deck copy of Empty the Warrens for an additional storm copy.

When watching other storm pilots play I've noticed they feel the need to cast Burning Wish and Dark Petition all in one turn, while it may be correct sometimes, there's no harm or shame in casting Burning Wish on turn and then Dark Petition on the third turn.

Burning Wish

Card Name:Burning Wish

Mana Cost:

Converted Mana Cost:2

Types:Sorcery

Card Text:

You may choose a sorcery card you own from outside the game, reveal that card, and put it into your hand. Exile Burning Wish.

As mentioned previously, one of the defining features of The EPIC Storm. An incredibly powerful and resourceful element that is quite diverse in what it can do. Burning Wish allows TES to not play answers for problematic cards by either providing a solution or an alternative route to victory. One of the greatest things Burning Wish does for this deck is it allows us to not have to play Tendrils of Agony in our main deck as it tends to be a dead card in most games. This can be said for a couple of the cards in our sideboard, that’s the true beauty of Burning Wish – its whatever we need it to be.

Our wish board is comprised of storm engines, win conditions, protection and a few solution based cards. We try not to play an entire sideboard full of Burning Wish targets as doesn’t create the greatest value out of our available slots. Generally, I try to have no more than six or seven Burning Wish targets. Lastly, having included Burning Wish into our deck, our threat density is very high in comparison to other storm decks meaning that we spend less time finding our threats with cantrips which leads to a faster kill.